The present invention is directed to a household refrigerator including antisweat heaters which are energized by an on-off switch. More particularly this invention relates to a control indicator optic arrangement and method for indicating when the antisweat heaters are energized.
Many household refrigerators have electric resistance antisweat heaters located betwen the interior liner and outer case in order to prevent condensation of humid, outside air on the cold surface of the case. There is normally provided a manually operated switch where the user of the refrigerator may energize the antisweat heaters or not energize them depending upon the humidity conditions of the atmosphere. Such a switch is normally referred to as a power saver switch or energy saver switch which will allow the user to turn off the heaters when not needed thus saving electrical energy.
Optic illuminator arrangements in various apparatus including refrigerators have been utilized in the past. For instance U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,814 discloses the use of fiber optic light conductors to provide illumination at a location remote from a light source. U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,108 discloses the use of a plastic light transmitting rod which has one end located adjacent the light bulb of a refrigerator and the other end arranged in alignment with an opening to activate a photo-conductor in a defrost control.
By the present invention, there is provided a control indicator optic arrangement and method which visually indicates to the user of the refrigerator that the antisweat heaters are energized.